Hi Paul and all, I guess I have Debian wheezy with a desktop of "default", the latter being lame information!
victor@claudius:~$ lsb_release -a No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Debian Description: Debian GNU/Linux 7.2 (wheezy) Release: 7.2 Codename: wheezy victor@claudius:~$ echo $DESKTOP_SESSION default So through the menu I went to Applications, System Tools, Preferences, System Settings, then clicked on Details, and a Window came up, entitled "Details". Under "Overview, it said Gnome version 3.4.2 This is a bit annoying, because I thought I had xfce, but what do I know..... I went to http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/MovingTheCtrlKey and tried the following.... On Debian GNU/Linux (console-setup method, newer) To make CAPS LOCK another control key, edit the file /etc/default/keyboard and change the line which reads XKBOPTIONS="" to XKBOPTIONS="ctrl:nocaps" # Some people prefer "ctrl:swapcaps" To make the change effective: $ sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh console-setup except I switched to root, i.e. not sudo, and executed dpkg-reconfigure -phigh console-setup and nothing seemed to happen. So through the menu I went to Applications, System Tools, Preferences, System Settings, then clicked on the keyboard icon. Then in the keyboard dialog box, I clicked on a link in the lower left corner, Layout Settings, and got a new dialog box, then went to an Options button, and finally got a keyboard layout options dialog box, clicked on Ctrl key position, and checked the checkbox, Swap Ctrl and Caps Lock. The above was tedious, and I wanted to do things from the command line. Then I logged out and logged back in, and nothing happened. Then I shut down the laptop, started it again, logged in again, and it worked!! My caps lock key and my ctrl key are switched. But, alas, I am not happy. I wanted to do this from the command line. I tried two different ways, and it didn't work. I am trying to learn emacs, and not have emacs pinky, and not remove my hands from the keyboard, and to not use a mouse. A long term goal is to be comfortable using the command line, and I failed to configure my caps lock key ctrl key through the command line. I had to resort to a graphical user interface. I would like to know how I could have done this from the command line. I've tried two different ways. Does anyone have an idea how I should do this? Just to emphasize, I'm trying to make a commitment to emacs, and typing quickly without removing my hands from the keyboard. A concomitant goal is to be comfortable at the command line. That's why I'm harping on knowing how to configure my keyboard using emacs and the command line. On an even more generalized note, can someone give me a quick pointer on what to read to get xfce on my machine, how to log into it instead of gnome. How to log into a terminal instead of gnome or xfce. Please don't tell me to just RTFM. I maintain that I tried to find the proper way to modify my keyboard from the command line from the internet, and I tried two different ways, and was unsuccessful. In an analogous way, can I get a pointer on what to read to do those things mentioned earlier in the paragraph, i.e log into xfce, terminal, as opposed to gnome. I earnestly hope I'm not coming off as petulant. I just spent a couple of somewhat angst ridden hours trying to modify my keyboard! I'd simply want a pointer or two so I don't follow some red herrings. Sincerely, Victor Soich On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 12:21 AM, Paul Mullen <p...@nellump.net> wrote: > On Sun, Feb 09, 2014 at 11:54:47PM -0800, Victor Soich wrote: >> victor@claudius:~$ cat .xmodmap >> ! >> ! Swap Caps_Lock and Control_L >> ! >> remove Lock = Caps_Lock >> remove Control = Control_L >> keysym Control_L = Caps_Lock >> keysym Caps_Lock = Control_L >> add Lock = Caps_Lock >> add Control = Control_L >> victor@claudius:~$ cat .bash_profile >> xmodmap ~/.xmodmap > > Your .xmodmap looks correct. I don't think you want to be loading it > from ~/.bash_profile, though. You only want it to run once, when you > start a new X session (i.e., login to your desktop). In the old days, > that meant adding "xmodmap ~/.xmodmap" to your ~/.Xsession file. But > those fancy-shmancy integrated desktop environments everybody likes so > much these days (GNOME, KDE, XFCE, etc.) often have their own way of > enabling users to run command lines automatically when they log in. > Creating an ~/.Xsession file may break things (temporarily). It'd be > best for you to determine exactly what desktop environment you're > using before proceeding. > > > -- > Paul > _______________________________________________ > PLUG mailing list > PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
